General Switch Discussion

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, RedShell said:

Yeah, really expensive too!

Indeed. I only got mine as I had a bunch of credit in GAME that I wanted to use up. £60+ for a controller is well out of order, even more so when the thing hasn't got a decent d-pad. 

[Ronnie]

I love the joycons, never had any issues with any of mine, build quality seems good and I love playing with one in each hand spread out on the sofa. So comfortable. Pro Controller is better obviously (amazing battery life!!) but for a quick pick up and play the joy con are great imo

[MindFreak]

Nintendo's forecast for units sold has gone down from 20 million to 17 million. Sales numbers are out now:

Games:

Quote

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 15.02 million
Super Mario Odyssey – 13.76 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 12.08 million
Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 11.68 million
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu / Eevee – 10.00 million
Splatoon 2 – 8.27 million
Super Mario Party – 5.30 million
1-2 Switch – 2.86 million
Mario Tennis Aces – 2.53 million
Kirby Star Allies – 2.42 million

Console:

Quote

– Switch has sold 32.27 million units total
– 14.49 million Switch units sold in the last quarter
– 9.4 million Switch units sold between October and December
– Switch software at 163.61 million units total
– Nintendo has lowered Switch forecast to 17 million, down from original 20 million

https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-financial-results-nintendo-fy3-2019-q3-switch-at-32-million-units-total-forecast-lowered-to-17-million/

Edited January 31, 2019 by MindFreak

[bob]

What forecast is this? 20 millions units for when? 2019?

[MindFreak]

3 minutes ago, bob said:

What forecast is this? 20 millions units for when? 2019?

They hoped to sell 20 million Switch units in the period from April 2018 to March 2019 (both months included).

[Ike]

Smash sold a lot in 2 months.

[Rob3008]

They're still hugely impressive Switch hardware and software numbers even if they didn't quite reach the hugely ambitious 20 million target. Hopefully it encourages Nintendo to green light more software for 2019!

[Julius]

24 minutes ago, Ike said:

Smash sold a lot in 2 months.

Aren’t these the figures as of December 31st 2018? Which makes it all the more impressive, given that it would have sold that many units in only three and a half weeks! 

I’m of surprised that they lowered their Switch unit sales forecast as much as they did, though I suppose it’s always better to forecast low and “over perform” when there are shareholders to take into account. 

[Hero-of-Time]

32 minutes ago, Julius said:

I’m of surprised that they lowered their Switch unit sales forecast as much as they did, though I suppose it’s always better to forecast low and “over perform” when there are shareholders to take into account. 

Yeah, I think that is the case here. I think they will probably be around the 18-19 million sold range.

[Dufniall]

Apparently THQ has announced Darksiders 1 Remastered for the Switch, but I can't find an official source. 

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, Vileplume2000 said:

Apparently THQ has announced Darksiders 1 Remastered for the Switch, but I can't find an official source. 

https://media.thqnordic.com/SWITCH/DSWME/Trailer/DarksidersWME_StoreTrailer_Switch_US.mp4

https://media.thqnordic.com/?dir=SWITCH/DSWME

[killthenet]

Really impressive numbers all round, Smash is close to outselling Brawl after only a month on the market and despite the negative things people were saying about Pokémon after the NPD's for the whole of 2018 came out 10 million is a really healthy number considering Switch's install base. I think I'm most impressed by Super Mario Party selling over 5 million though. 

Will Smash be the overall best selling Switch game by the end of March? I think it's bound to overtake Mario Kart eventually but Mario Kart shows no signs of slowing down so will be interesting to see what the end of FY results say about them both. 

Did they mention Xenoblade anywhere? I thought they'd give us an update on its total sales figures.

Edited January 31, 2019 by killthenet

[MindFreak]

22 minutes ago, killthenet said:

Really impressive numbers all round, Smash is close to outselling Brawl after only a month on the market and despite the negative things people were saying about Pokémon after the NPD's for the whole of 2018 came out 10 million is a really healthy number considering Switch's install base. I think I'm most impressed by Super Mario Party selling over 5 million though. 

Will Smash be the overall best selling Switch game by the end of March? I think it's bound to overtake Mario Kart eventually but Mario Kart shows no signs of slowing down so will be interesting to see what the end of FY results say about them both. 

Did they mention Xenoblade anywhere? I thought they'd give us an update on its total sales figures.

They only mention the 10 best-selling games and Xen9blade 2 has been thrown out of that list. 

[killthenet]

It'll forever haunt me that Xenoblade will never sell more than 1-2 Switch.

I just had a look at the Wii's sales figures, at about the same point in its life it had sold 34 million units (as of September 2008 so it had been on sale for about 21 months & had two Christmases) so for the Switch to only be a shade under that is pretty remarkable. 

If only Nintendo hadn't set such an absurd sales target then all the news would be positive.

[Mr-Paul]

I was waiting for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to go down in price before getting it for Switch as I paid for it already on Wii U, but seeing that it's still selling bucketloads at full price makes me realise it's not going to happen. 

I've bitten the bullet and bought it again now as I want to play it with friends and am fed up of waiting! 

Still going to continue waiting before double-dipping on Breath of the Wild though. 

[Ronnie]

 

[Julius]

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Nikkei are reporting that a smaller and less expensive version of the Switch will be launching in Nintendo’s next fiscal year (i.e. April 2019 - March 2020). 

We’ve talked about it here before plenty of times, but a smaller and more cost effective version of the Switch launching in potentially the same year as the next Pokémon and Animal Crossing makes far too much sense to not be happening. 

[Hero-of-Time]

18 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

 

To think, people said that Nintendo would be worse off making a hybrid. 

[bob]

To think, people said that Nintendo would be worse off making a hybrid. 

Wouldn't they need to match Wii + 3DS sales to not be worse off though?

[Glen-i]

5 minutes ago, bob said:

16 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

To think, people said that Nintendo would be worse off making a hybrid. 

Wouldn't they need to match Wii + 3DS sales to not be worse off though?

Well, there's no cost in making a seperate console, so it's not quite as simple as that.

[Hero-of-Time]

6 minutes ago, bob said:

16 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

To think, people said that Nintendo would be worse off making a hybrid. 

Wouldn't they need to match Wii + 3DS sales to not be worse off though?

I suppose but when you look at their home console sales ( all in decline Wii was a weird blip/success for them ) and the state of mobile phone gaming eating into the handheld market this really was the only option for them. Many said doing this would be disastrous for the company and it would flop. The sales data shows otherwise and that Nintendo made the right call. The fact that it's tracking ahead of the PS4 ( even without strong 3rd party support ) and pretty much on top of the Wii just goes to show the strength of the product and Nintendo's IP.

[Julius]

35 minutes ago, bob said:

45 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

To think, people said that Nintendo would be worse off making a hybrid. 

Wouldn't they need to match Wii + 3DS sales to not be worse off though?

You mean the Wii U, right? I think most people bundle the Wii and the DS together generationally and when talking about eras of Nintendo, and i think it’s largely thanks to that era that Nintendo is going to be safe from catastrophic failure for a long while — between those two consoles, Nintendo sold over 250 million console units in a generation, and thanks to their generally not wanting to push the limits of technology (at least for the last decade and a half or so), that would surely make for a massive profit margin, and thus likely give them a large cushion to deal with discomforts brought about by relative failures like the Wii U. Also worth mentioning that I imagine the profit margins for Nintendo’s handheld consoles are historically much larger than their profit margins for home consoles, and that in each generation that Nintendo has had both a home and handheld platform, the handheld platform (i.e. likely the more profitable platform) has always outsold the home platform, so I imagine that their cushion for discomfort is large and plush. 

In addition to the points made by @Hero-of-Time and @Glen-i, it’s also worth noting that Nintendo had been the only ones seriously fighting on both the home console and handheld console fronts for a while, so it made perfect sense for them to pool their resources into one console — as H-o-T mentioned, why have a dedicated handheld console when you have no direct competitor in the dedicated video game space in the first place (largely thanks relative failure of the Vita), and thus mainly find yourself competing against a much larger, broader, and much more varied competitor in the shape of the smartphone market? 

[Ronnie]

6 hours ago, Julius said:

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Nikkei are reporting that a smaller and less expensive version of the Switch will be launching in Nintendo’s next fiscal year (i.e. April 2019 - March 2020). 

We’ve talked about it here before plenty of times, but a smaller and more cost effective version of the Switch launching in potentially the same year as the next Pokémon and Animal Crossing makes far too much sense to not be happening. 

Yeah this makes a ton of sense, especially with the 3DS finally looking like it's on the way out with the latest sales figures. I was suggesting a Swtich to my sister for my 8 yo nephew but at £280ish it's not cheap for a kid.

I'd definitely buy a smaller model. I love my Switch but when I'm on the Tube or on the bus a more pocket friendly model would be great, especially with Animal Crossing around the corner.

[Nicktendo]

A $200 portable only Switch makes so much sense for this year with AC and Pokemon slated for release that Nintendo would be crazy not to be doing it (they probably won't). 

Stuff I'm reading on ResetEra makes sense though, mini this year, pro next year to tie in with a major powerhouse release. What is it, 24 million 3DSs sold in Japan? It's time to capture that market. I'd really love them to take a mobile phone style approach and release a more powerful Switch every 2-3 years.

I was also skeptical about the hybrid, but it was definitely the right choice. If they can get NSO subscriptions, mobile gaming and their other ventures like films and theme parks to replace the console / handheld model of earnings, I think they'll be just fine. 

 

[bob]

You mean the Wii U, right? I think most people bundle the Wii and the DS together generationally and when talking about eras of Nintendo, and i think it’s largely thanks to that era that Nintendo is going to be safe from catastrophic failure for a long while — between those two consoles, Nintendo sold over 250 million console units in a generation, and thanks to their generally not wanting to push the limits of technology (at least for the last decade and a half or so), that would surely make for a massive profit margin, and thus likely give them a large cushion to deal with discomforts brought about by relative failures like the Wii U. Also worth mentioning that I imagine the profit margins for Nintendo’s handheld consoles are historically much larger than their profit margins for home consoles, and that in each generation that Nintendo has had both a home and handheld platform, the handheld platform (i.e. likely the more profitable platform) has always outsold the home platform, so I imagine that their cushion for discomfort is large and plush. 
In addition to the points made by [mention=342]Hero-of-Time[/mention] and [mention=16048]Glen-i[/mention], it’s also worth noting that Nintendo had been the only ones seriously fighting on both the home console and handheld console fronts for a while, so it made perfect sense for them to pool their resources into one console — as H-o-T mentioned, why have a dedicated handheld console when you have no direct competitor in the dedicated video game space in the first place (largely thanks relative failure of the Vita), and thus mainly find yourself competing against a much larger, broader, and much more varied competitor in the shape of the smartphone market? 

I absolutely agree that it made sense for them to make a hybrid, but given that they presumably will only make a single device, how many of them would they need to sell in order to validate the decision?

If they outsell the PS4, that's great, but how many home console + handhelds would they have sold had they continued down the separate devices route?

Obviously it's hard to say, as we don't fully know how the mobile market would affect the handheld today, but even if both Home Console and Handheld underperformed, mightn't they have hit more than 32 million together? Who knows!